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LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Rådgivaransvaret vid fastighetsöverlåtelser - Särskilt om friskrivningsklausuler vid grov vårdslöshet

Trattner, Louise LU (2019) JURM02 20191
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
Errors and deficiencies in real estate can lead to excessive costs for the buyer. Particularly if the buyer is a consumer. The buyer of a property has, among other things, a far-reaching obligation to examine the real estate before buying it. The seller can only be liable for defects that the buyer couldn’t have discovered through a thorough examination of the real estate with regard to the property's condition, the nature of comparable real estates and other circumstances in the agreement, this according to the 4th chapter jordabalken. As a general rule, the buyer can examine the real estate himself, but in most cases the buyer hires a real estate inspector to conduct a thorough examination of the property. Real estate inspectors, but... (More)
Errors and deficiencies in real estate can lead to excessive costs for the buyer. Particularly if the buyer is a consumer. The buyer of a property has, among other things, a far-reaching obligation to examine the real estate before buying it. The seller can only be liable for defects that the buyer couldn’t have discovered through a thorough examination of the real estate with regard to the property's condition, the nature of comparable real estates and other circumstances in the agreement, this according to the 4th chapter jordabalken. As a general rule, the buyer can examine the real estate himself, but in most cases the buyer hires a real estate inspector to conduct a thorough examination of the property. Real estate inspectors, but also other advisors and experts like brokers or lawyers are often hired throughout the real estate transaction. These advisors should inform the buyer about known risks and faults of the real estate and advise the buyer and seller how the parties should act to ensure that both the buyer and the seller are fully informed to avoid problems arising. Advisor’s responsibilities are governed by general contract principles. A consequence of this is that the consumer protection is high and that the advisor’s responsibility must be based on an assessment of the advisor’s negligence. Among other things, the advisor must carry out the assignment as carefully as possible and shall inform his client in such a pedagogical manner that the client can understand the information. A basic principle for Swedish contract law is freedom of contracts. This freedom of contract means that the parties control the content of the agreement.

In most cases the advisor presents the consumer with standard-form contracts that apply to all the advisor’s assignments and its different contracting parties. This means that the consumer's specific needs are not taken into account when presenting the conditions in the contract. It also means that the contractor, in this case the adviser, wants to limit his liability through disclaimers and exemption clauses. There’s
a risk that the disclaimer will present itself unfair later on. An example of such a situation is when the advisor acts particularly blatantly in the performance of his / her task. The courts have in recent years chosen to make an assessment of whether the disclaimer makes the limitation of liability unreasonable in itself after an verall assessment of both the risk distribution in the contract, but also looks to other circumstances. This assessment has made the advisor's strict responsibility less covering, something that’s been both praised and criticized in the doctrine. An assessment based on whether the liability limitation is unreasonable in itself will rarely lead to a disclaimer clause being completely disregarded. Instead the “general clause” in avtalslagen will be used to adjust the exemption clause and therefore also the advisor’s lability. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Fel och brister i fastighet kan leda till mycket kostnader för framför allt en konsu-ment. En köpare av en fastighet har en långtgående undersökningsplikt som gör att köparen inte kan åberopa en avvikelse som köparen borde ha upptäckt vid en sådan undersökning av fastigheten som varit påkallad med hänsyn till fastighetens skick, den normala beskaffenheten hos liknande fastigheter samt omständigheterna vid köpet enligt 4 kap 19 § 2 st. JB. En undersökning ska som huvudregel kunna göras av köparen själv men i många fall anlitar köparen en besiktningsman för att göra en fullgod undersökning av fastigheten. Besiktningsmän, men även andra rådgivare och sakkunniga personer likt mäklare eller advokater, anlitas ofta vid fastighets-överlåtelser.... (More)
Fel och brister i fastighet kan leda till mycket kostnader för framför allt en konsu-ment. En köpare av en fastighet har en långtgående undersökningsplikt som gör att köparen inte kan åberopa en avvikelse som köparen borde ha upptäckt vid en sådan undersökning av fastigheten som varit påkallad med hänsyn till fastighetens skick, den normala beskaffenheten hos liknande fastigheter samt omständigheterna vid köpet enligt 4 kap 19 § 2 st. JB. En undersökning ska som huvudregel kunna göras av köparen själv men i många fall anlitar köparen en besiktningsman för att göra en fullgod undersökning av fastigheten. Besiktningsmän, men även andra rådgivare och sakkunniga personer likt mäklare eller advokater, anlitas ofta vid fastighets-överlåtelser. Dessa rådgivare kan informera om risker och fel i fastigheten samt ge råd om hur parterna ska agera för att både köparen och säljaren ska vara fullt infor-merade för att undvika att problem och tvister uppstår.

Rådgivares ansvar har tidigare de senaste decennierna ansetts vara väldigt strängt. Ansvaret styrs av allmänna kontraktsrättsliga principer. En följd av det är att konsument¬skyddet ställs högt och att ansvar för utförande av tjänsten ska grundas på en culpabedömning. Bland annat ska rådgivaren genomföra uppdraget så omsorgs¬fullt som möjligt och ska informera sin uppdragsgivare på ett sådant peda-gogiskt sätt att uppdragstagaren kan tillgodogöra sig informationen.

En grundläggande princip för att den svenska avtalsrätten är att det föreligger avtals-frihet. Denna avtalsfrihet innebär bland annat att det är parterna som styr av¬talets innehåll. Avtalsförhållandet mellan en konsument och en näringsidkare känne-tecknas av att näringsidkaren i många fall lägger fram standardvillkor vilka ska gälla för samtliga uppdrag rådgivaren tar på sig mot många olika avtalsparter. Det medför att konsumentens specifika behov inte beaktas då villkoren utarbetas. Det innebär också att näringsidkaren, i detta fallet rådgivaren, vill begränsa sitt ansvar genom friskrivningsklausuler. Det finns en risk med att villkoren åsidosätter rådgivarens ansvar i en sådan mån att de anses vara oskäliga.

Ett exempel på en sådan situation är då en rådgivare agerat särskilt klandervärt vid utförandet av sitt uppdrag. Domstolarna har de senaste åren valt att göra en be-dömning om friskrivningsklausulen ska stå sig genom att se om ansvars-begräsningen är oskälig i sig och genom att göra en helhetsbedömning av dels risk-fördelningen men även förhållanden vid uppkomsten av avtalet och förhållanden som tillkommit efter det. En bedömning utifrån om ansvarsbegräsningen är oskälig kommer sällan leda till att en friskrivningsklausul åsidosätts helt utan kommer istället jämkas med stöd av 36 § avtalslagen. Denna bedömning har gjort att råd-givarens tidigare stränga ansvar inte kan anses vara lika långtgående längre. För en konsument som anlitar en sakkunnig vid köp av fastighet kommer det innebära att denne inte kommer känna samma tillit till en anlitad rådgivare. I fastighetsrätten kommer det leda till att köparen själv får se till att denne är fullt informerad om fastighetens skick, ett krav som inte överensstämmer med gemene mans kunskaper om fastigheter idag. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Trattner, Louise LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
The liability for advisors during real estate transactions - Especially about exemption clauses
course
JURM02 20191
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Rådgivaransvar, Friskrivningsklausuler, 36 § avtalslagen, Fastighetsrätt, Avtalsrätt, Skadeståndsrätt, Grov vårdslöshet
language
Swedish
id
8977599
date added to LUP
2019-06-25 11:36:33
date last changed
2019-06-25 11:36:33
@misc{8977599,
  abstract     = {{Errors and deficiencies in real estate can lead to excessive costs for the buyer. Particularly if the buyer is a consumer. The buyer of a property has, among other things, a far-reaching obligation to examine the real estate before buying it. The seller can only be liable for defects that the buyer couldn’t have discovered through a thorough examination of the real estate with regard to the property's condition, the nature of comparable real estates and other circumstances in the agreement, this according to the 4th chapter jordabalken. As a general rule, the buyer can examine the real estate himself, but in most cases the buyer hires a real estate inspector to conduct a thorough examination of the property. Real estate inspectors, but also other advisors and experts like brokers or lawyers are often hired throughout the real estate transaction. These advisors should inform the buyer about known risks and faults of the real estate and advise the buyer and seller how the parties should act to ensure that both the buyer and the seller are fully informed to avoid problems arising. Advisor’s responsibilities are governed by general contract principles. A consequence of this is that the consumer protection is high and that the advisor’s responsibility must be based on an assessment of the advisor’s negligence. Among other things, the advisor must carry out the assignment as carefully as possible and shall inform his client in such a pedagogical manner that the client can understand the information. A basic principle for Swedish contract law is freedom of contracts. This freedom of contract means that the parties control the content of the agreement.

In most cases the advisor presents the consumer with standard-form contracts that apply to all the advisor’s assignments and its different contracting parties. This means that the consumer's specific needs are not taken into account when presenting the conditions in the contract. It also means that the contractor, in this case the adviser, wants to limit his liability through disclaimers and exemption clauses. There’s
a risk that the disclaimer will present itself unfair later on. An example of such a situation is when the advisor acts particularly blatantly in the performance of his / her task. The courts have in recent years chosen to make an assessment of whether the disclaimer makes the limitation of liability unreasonable in itself after an verall assessment of both the risk distribution in the contract, but also looks to other circumstances. This assessment has made the advisor's strict responsibility less covering, something that’s been both praised and criticized in the doctrine. An assessment based on whether the liability limitation is unreasonable in itself will rarely lead to a disclaimer clause being completely disregarded. Instead the “general clause” in avtalslagen will be used to adjust the exemption clause and therefore also the advisor’s lability.}},
  author       = {{Trattner, Louise}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Rådgivaransvaret vid fastighetsöverlåtelser - Särskilt om friskrivningsklausuler vid grov vårdslöshet}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}